Do you agree with Peter Drucker's lessons for leaders?

COL Mikel J. Burroughs — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 10:38:12 -0400

Thought this was great post to share with our young leaders coming up through the ranks across the various services.

RP Members what are your comments and thoughts about these leadership Lessons?

Here is a snapshot if you don't want to go to the link:

In his new book, Drucker on Leadership, Bill Cohen, a student and colleague of Peter Drucker, extracts the leadership lessons that he learned from this great thought leader. Here are the lessons that Bill uncovered:

1. Strategic planning is the first priority of the leader. Drucker believed that the leader's job was to create the desired future for the company or the organization. The leader needed to be intimately involved with the strategic direction.

2. Ethics and integrity are critical for leader effectiveness. Character and ethical behavior are of central importance for the leader. According to Drucker, followers might forgive leaders for mistakes, but will not forgive a lack of integrity.

3. Model the military. Peter Drucker had great respect for how the military developed leadership, with an emphasis on character and leaders as positive role models. The military's emphasis on commitment and "taking care of your people" are examples of what Drucker admired about military leadership.

4. Motivation: Treat employees like volunteers. Peter greatly admired nonprofit organizations, and he extracted leadership lessons from them. If a leader treats employees as if they were volunteers - free to leave at any time - the leader pays greater attention to the non-monetary needs of workers, and moves from transactional motivation to transformational motivation.

5. Leaders should be marketers. This surprising lesson really means that leaders should be focused on the customer, and be concerned about how customers view the organization and its products or services. The leader must set the tone for how the organization is viewed, and be its best

representative.https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/200911/peter-drucker-leadership

Peter Drucker on Leadership

What are Peter Drucker's lessons for leaders?

Response by SGT Toby Vado made Jul 6 at 2015 10:43 AM

SGT Toby Vado — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 10:43:37 -0400

Awesome lessons and great insight

Response by Lt Col Timothy Parker, DBA made Jul 6 at 2015 10:46 AM

Lt Col Timothy Parker, DBA — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 10:46:15 -0400

Drucker is right on the mark. I happen to have read many of his 39 books, and many of his articles. He is the father of modern management - not much new has been put forward since. Many of his predictions on the future of business came to pass as well.

Response by LT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 6 at 2015 10:51 AM

LT Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 10:51:37 -0400

Sounds like an excellent read. Could you expound upon point #4? I didn't really get what it meant.

Response by CAPT Kevin B. made Jul 6 at 2015 11:09 AM

CAPT Kevin B. — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 11:09:03 -0400

If you look at the front runners in the leadership book genre, you'll see variations of the same recipes. Interesting thing, Drucker, Covery, et al were careful to come up with copyrightable nomenclature to put a fence around their product. You'll see the same things in the critical thinking arena with variations in the four quadrants abound.

Best advice is to see the big picture on leadership, pick up on things that will help you improve your game, and then implement. Don't forget to get some brain cells on statistical process control and systems theory if you're going to push higher in the commercial world. You don't have to be an expert in it but be able to recognize what's snake oil and support the "volunteers" who truly get it.

Response by MSgt Robert Pellam made Jul 6 at 2015 11:21 AM

MSgt Robert Pellam — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 11:21:33 -0400

As a management minor in school now, I have come across Peter Drucker's name quite a few times. A lot of what he says is what I call , "hard common sense". What he says is correct but its hard for people to do.

An example of hard common sense is a billion dollar cooperation can cover up a million dollar mistake with a million dollars, instead of taking a 10 million dollar sales hit. But if that cover up is found out, then the 10 million dollar hit just turned into 100 million dollars. Its more like gambling to me.

Peter Drucker's foundation for management is spot on. If you follow what he says, the sky is the limit. To bad many people think that common sense doesn't apply to them.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 6 at 2015 11:37 AM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 11:37:47 -0400

First I agree Dr. Riggio’s assessment of Peter Ducker’s lessons on leadership and the lessons from the book. I plan on making this my next reading assignment.

As a life long student of Management and Leaderships I lived through all of the phases the military transitioned through from TQL adapted from Demings TQM, Do More with less, Six Sigma ect… I have attended their leadership classes from senior enlisted all the way to Field Grade Officer course. The argument between Management and Leadership is a long one. I recall this article in Proceedings that focused on Leadership and its importance to our modern Navy.

Fact is I can train a manager, give the person the tools provide them with guidance and process out of the equation comes a manger. And in my opinion every one is a leader to some extent but what Secretary Lehman is trying to encourage here is for us to become inspirational leaders. I think that is where the Managers like Deming and Drucker come up short. You have to learn how to inspire your people no matter what level of leadership you are at. Inspirational leader are what make our Military revered by all other Militaries in the world. Management like math will come to you in the tools you are given, strive to be an inspirational leader every day.

One of these days I am going to write a book on leadership.
http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2011-10/%E2%80%98leadership-over-management%E2%80%99

‘Leadership over Management’ | U.S. Naval Institute

The Mission of the Institute is to provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write in order to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to national defense.

Response by SMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 6 at 2015 12:00 PM

SMSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 12:00:51 -0400

Everything he said is right on target, not new info but worded in a way that may get through to some more than others. I personally believe that #2 is by far the most important one. People can forgive a mistake but once trust and credibility are question or lost it is almost impossible to come back from. So many believe that the people that work around them don't see flaws and the leader cannot be honest. Fact is everyone knows your flaws and you admitting them elevated both trust and credibility.

Response by SPC David S. made Jul 6 at 2015 12:07 PM

SPC David S. — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 12:07:55 -0400

Not trying to discredit Mr. Drucker's expertise in the management field sir but I feel that he often over stated the obvious yet relegated the more difficult processes to the discretion of the manager. Drucker's concept of management by objectives (MBO) more or less removed or replaced the need for any leadership and over simplified the concept of managing by numbers. Many have argued that this approach delivers inferior results as quantitative results may conflict with the strategic goals of the organization. Also Drucker had a well known disdain for charismatic leadership - “The three most charismatic leaders in this century inflicted more suffering on the human race than almost any trio in history: Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. What matters is not the leader's charisma. What matters is the leader's mission.” This quote is a prime example of the disconnect Drucker had between people and things. I was at a water park this past fourth and it was naturally an extremely busy day at the food concession stand. In all of the chaos going on behind the counter I heard the manager shout out "Outstanding guys, your doing great. Hang in there we're almost there. This was a manager not concerned about just banging out hamburgers. He understood the tasks at hand as well as the abilities in which his crew would execute them. To me this manager struck me a goad leader and somebody I would hire. Sure if you need to produce a million widgets Drucker's expertise in managing things may apply however when it comes to leading people I prefer the approach of other individuals like Herb Keller or even his contemporary, William Deming.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 6 at 2015 1:40 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 13:40:50 -0400

Thanks for the summary. I couldn't agree more with all the points listed. In my opinion, General Dempsey's push for the Profession of Arms is a reflection of the Army's need to develop leaders who can build trust. Treating Soldier's like volunteers (which they truly are), brings to light the need to see what is under the uniform. Our population of recruits has changed, they're not softer or weaker, just have different sources for motivation. When was the last time America fought two wars simultaneously with an all-volunteer military? The character of the leader is paramount with developing trust and once lost, can be devastating to the organization as a whole. Finally, the last point about how customers view the organization is critical. I'm about to take over a battalion level operations cell and I cannot stress how important it is going to be for my shop to treat the companies like the most important customers in the Army. A wise General, General Barbara Holcomb, taught me that staff works for the company, not the other way around.

Response by COL Jon Thompson made Jul 6 at 2015 2:37 PM

COL Jon Thompson — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 14:37:40 -0400

As far as lesson 3 goes, I wholeheartedly agree with that. I left active duty in 1996 and started working as an entry level manager for Hertz Corporation at O'Hare Int'l Airport. Within 8 months, I was promoted to the next level management position over managers with more seniority because I was taking care of the hourly employees when it came time to pay. It was very satisfying to hear a union steward comment on how well I was doing that. The only one I somewhat disagree with thr first, strategic planning. At the entry level or junior officer level, I am not sure strategic planning is required. What is required is understanding the intent 2 levels up and you hope that as you go up the chain, that intent is ultimately nested in a strategic vision. I also think senior leaders (both military and civilian) fail to articulate clearly their intent or what that strategic vision/planning is. But at the senior level, strategic planning is the key leadership task in my opinion.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Feb 17 at 2016 9:02 PM

LTC Stephen F. — Wed, 17 Feb 2016 21:02:25 -0500

COL Mikel J. Burroughs Peter Drucker raises some valid points. However I would move his #1 strategic planning to be # 2 because a leader first need to demonstrate ethics and integrity prior to issuing any guidance including strategic planning.
1. Strategic planning is the first priority of the leader.
2. Ethics and integrity are critical for leader effectiveness. Character and ethical behavior are of central importance for the leader. [concur and I reccomend this move to priority #1]
3. Model the military. ... The military's emphasis on commitment and "taking care of your people" are examples of what Drucker admired about military leadership. [this sounds like Drucker ios actually modeling the Army which equips people versus the other Services]
4. Motivation: Treat employees like volunteers. [that is bad advice - I volunteer a lot and as a volunteer I have much more freedom than a paid employee. Employees should be treated as the most valuable assets the company has]
5. Leaders should be marketers. This surprising lesson really means that leaders should be focused on the customer, and be concerned about how customers view the organization and its products or services. The leader must set the tone for how the organization is viewed, and be its best. [this sounds almost like image is the most important aspect for a company to manage. I doubt this is waht Drucker is driving at. Substance is more important than image and quality of the product or service delivered to teh customer should be of paramount importance.]

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Feb 20 at 2016 11:16 AM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Sat, 20 Feb 2016 11:16:02 -0500

Not really into Leadership, Leading, Being in Charge. Prefer not to be but at 6'5", Old and Yeah I guess Military. When stuff goes Horrible people look at me and go "What should we do" I don't have a lot of Patience and make things happen or direct things to happen. I am a very reluctant leader.

Response by Doug Macdonald made Feb 27 at 2016 10:53 AM

Doug Macdonald — Sat, 27 Feb 2016 10:53:27 -0500

COL Mikel J. Burroughs, I agree that those are all great characteristics for a leader. It seems to me that all of those characteristics are a component of TRUST. That is why I try hard to understand what makes people trust you.

Response by SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTM made Aug 4 at 2019 4:50 PM

SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTM — Sun, 04 Aug 2019 16:50:38 -0400

Yes I do!